San Francisco Trip Review – Summer 2016!

San Francisco Trip Report

DAY 1

Welcome to my San Francisco trip review! After a great time in New York and Napa Valley, it was time to visit my favourite city on the West Coast; San Francisco.

We took a bit of a detour on the drive from Napa to San Francisco, via Livermore, to shop and grab a few bargains at San Francisco Premium Outlets. After shopping we drove into San Francisco, straight into The W Hotel where we dropped our bags off and the rental car back to Hertz, just off Union Square.

The evening began with some drinks at The View Lounge inside the Marriott Marquis hotel, with some friends of VP’s from Australia. We then moved onto a restaurant in the Ferry Building called The Slanted Door, serving modern Vietnamese fare in a stunning location with great views of the Bay Bridge. Dinner was excellent, despite being in a touristy area the food was definitely a restaurant I’d recommend. Good pick by VP! We then headed onto Novela bar not too far from our hotels for a few post dinner drinks, San Francisco sure does get cold out at night, so do remember to wrap up!

DAY 2

We had a relatively relaxed day 2 in San Francisco, opting to have a late breakfast followed by a little shopping at Macy’s and Nike. As the Euro’s were on at the time both VP and I went to a sports bar, to watch the Germany vs Italy quarter final. Golden Gate Tap Room, was your typical sports bar – but what I was surprised was by the vast amounts of craft beers available on tap. If I had more time and money, I think I’d love to spend a few days sampling all they had to offer.

The relaxing day continued, with a dinner at Little Star on Valencia in Mission District. This was my first time trying an authentic pizza pie, and boy was it a challenge to eat! I could understand why it was one of the best rated Pizza restaurants in San Francisco.

Post dinner VP and I then went to Nihon Whisky Lounge, which we had no real expectations for, it was in quite a run-down area – but when we went in I was surprised by the Whisky bottles piled up high, it probably took 20 minutes for us to choose our first drink. The barman was happy to talk us through our Whisky tastes and suggest some options at all price ranges. We had a few more drinks at Nihon then moved back to the hotel for a few drinks at the bar there.

Pizza Pie at Little Star! (We did not finish it)A few of the stunning whiskys on offer at Nihon

DAY 3

Sunday AM involved fitting in with the locals at Sunday brunch, we queued up outside Plow for almost 90 minutes for a table – the long queues were certainly a great sign. Brunch was fantastic, and well worth the wait, unfortunately as with most places in the USA the coffee was it’s downfall, the awful filtered coffee! Come on! You put on great food why not pair it with a decent cup of coffee!

Brunch at Plough

After such a big brunch, we walked from our hotel down towards Pier 34 which was overwhelming, too many tourists both domestic and international, we spent very little time there and continued walking towards the Golden Gate Bridge, which was partially hidden by the fog, after taking a few pictures and a short walk over the bridge we walked towards Golden Gate Park, which like NYC’s Central Park deserves a day to explore. I bet above you were hoping to see a comment on Alcatraz, I had been on my trip in 2008 and would highly recommend it – especially the twilight tour.We strolled towards Haight Ashbury where we perched ourselves down in Alembic Bar for a well-earned cocktail or two before taking an Uber to Pakwan, a South-Asian restaurant I visited in 2008, VP was craving a decent curry and this served up a decent one, and was BYOB. Dinner hit the spot and we decided for a few more drinks in a bar that was on my list ABV (again majorly Whisky focussed), before taking an Uber back towards the hotel where we found a nearby bar.

Want to try escaping it?A picture of the Bay Bridge at night, I tried to take a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge at night but couldn’t see it! The fog had completely hidden it!A selfie on a foggy Golden Gate Bridge.

DAY 4 – 4th July Celebrations

Monday was 4th July, in true American fashion there was only one thing to do today, and that was to head down to AT&T Park home of the San Francisco Giants, Baseball has been a game that’s never appealed to me but both VP and I thought we’d give it a try. The game was interesting, but what was even better was the food options! Tons of them, both VP and I opted to have some chicken and garlic fries (these were better than the ones I had in Napa), we stayed away from the alcohol mainly due to the prices at $12 for a beer it was just overpriced for us. The game was interesting and over a lot quicker than we expected – we picked up the rules as it went along and as it was 4th of July it was Military day so everything was focussed on that. They really know how to make a sporting event a great day out!

The Scoreboard at AT&T ParkTime at AT&T Park – As a British Tiger he wasn’t impressed with celebrating 4th of July, but did enjoy the game!The giant Coke bottle at AT&T Park – it has a slide inside and it is suitable for adults!

After the baseball we caught a bite to eat at a Mexican bar/restaurant called Tres, where I enjoyed a much cheaper IPA and some Tacos. The hotel was the next stop for a quick freshen up and change of clothes before heading towards the piers for some drinks ahead of the 4th July fireworks, as the night wore on it was obvious that the firework show was going to be defeated by the fog for another year, so we hastily made an exit and headed to the bar we visited the previous night for some drinks.

Taco’s Post the 4th July Baseball Game!

DAY 5 – Time to go home…. 🙁

Tuesday AM we checked out of our hotel room and left the bags behind to head to Tartine Bakery, where on a Tuesday morning at 11am we were queueing for the bakery. I opted for a toasted sandwich and a sweet treat alongside a a few treats to take back to London. After picking up the bags from hotel we headed to the airport and parted ways. It was a fantastic two weeks in the USA and there is no doubt I’ll be visiting all 3 locations again.

I hope you enjoyed reading my San Francisco Trip Review, I’ll be sure to provide a few SF tourist tips in the near future as we didn’t really cover too much on the tourist trail on this visit. San Francisco Trip Review San Francisco Trip Review San Francisco Trip Review San Francisco Trip Review